


the bokuto special

by joshllyman



Series: owl for sale [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 15:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20584892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joshllyman/pseuds/joshllyman
Summary: “Seven...seven shots of espresso?” Akaashi manages.Bokuto licks some whipped cream off the top. “I have, uh, a pretty good metabolism so it’s kinda all or nothing on the caffeine for me. Eight’s too many.”Akaashi nods faintly. “Yes, eight would be ridiculous.”---An accidental email leads to a shared cup of coffee, if you can call whatever Bokuto's drinking coffee.





	the bokuto special

**Author's Note:**

> the people demanded the date, the people get the date

Akaashi’s never been more nervous in his entire life.

Shortly after sending his last email to the mysterious Bokuto-san, he’d passed out from the sudden lack of adrenaline coursing through his veins. He woke up again around 7:20, realizing very suddenly that he needed to leave soon if he wanted to make it to his date on time—and he had absolutely no idea what to wear. He’d gone through his entire closet—literally—and finally settled on a black and white plaid and a pair of black jeans, but by the time he’d figured it out it was 7:45. He ended up running out the door and was halfway to the cafe before he’d realized he’d forgotten a jacket, and by then it was far too late to actually do anything about it. He’d arrived at the cafe at 8:02, in the end, and is now shivering and holding his hands to his coffee mug. He feels like the blond barista with the glasses is staring at him and he tries to shrug it off. He’d still beaten Bokuto, anyway. 

Unless Bokuto decided not to show up.

There’s no way, Akaashi thinks. He’d said he was excited, that he’d thought Akaashi was...cute. There’s no way he’s bailing.

By 8:07 he’s downed half his coffee in an attempt to quell his nervous hands. He isn’t being stood up. It’s just a long walk from the gym, he reasons.

At 8:10 he finally gets an email from Bokuto, and he heaves a sigh of relief as he reads it.

**bokutok@tokyou.jp: **sorry im running late!! i had clean up duty and extra laps, ill be there in like 15 minutes!! sorry again!!

Akaashi catches himself smiling like an idiot down at his phone and tries to rearrange his face into something less embarrassing as he responds.

**to: bokutok@tokyou.jp: **No problem, take your time. I’ll see you soon.

Akaashi pulls his notes out of his bag and flips through them half-heartedly for something to do while he waits. He’s halfway through a chapter on stereochemistry when the door to the cafe bangs open forcefully, and he looks up to see what the noise is.

Akaashi catches sight of Bokuto just before Bokuto catches sight of him, and damn is he grateful; the way Bokuto’s face lights up at seeing him is breathtaking, his whole face breaking into a huge, unabashed smile.

“Akaashi-san!” Bokuto calls, voice loud in the small atmosphere of the cafe, and a few other patrons turn to look at the intrusion.

Akaashi holds up a hand meekly and offers him a small smile. Thankfully that seems to be enough. 

Bokuto crosses the cafe, and Akaashi stands, and then they look at each other awkwardly for a moment until Bokuto laughs (it’s beautiful, musical, loud like the rest of him but it fits him so well) and says “I’m going to get a drink, I’ll be back!”

Akaashi fidgets nervously, playing with his napkin, his mug, the hem of his shirt until Bokuto slides in across from him. He’s brought back a huge cup of frozen something, topped with an obscene amount of whipped cream.

“What...is that?” Akaashi asks, and he’s treated to another Bokuto smile.

“Actually it’s the Bokuto special!” he exclaims. “My friend Tsukki’s a barista here, so he makes this just for me. It’s a frozen latte with seven shots of espresso, caramel, vanilla, and cinnamon flavoring, and obviously enough whipped cream to sink a ship!” 

“Seven...seven shots of espresso?” Akaashi manages. 

Bokuto licks some whipped cream off the top. “I have, uh, a pretty good metabolism so it’s kinda all or nothing on the caffeine for me. Eight’s too many.”

Akaashi nods faintly. “Yes, eight would be ridiculous. You know it’s fucking cold out, right?”

“Yep!” Bokuto grins, and Akaashi notices there’s whipped cream just above his mouth. “Alright, Akaashi-san, I feel like you learned all about me this morning but I know nothing about you. What’s your major?”

“I’m—I’m a fine arts student,” Akaashi answers.

Bokuto cocks his head to the side. “I thought you said you were working on a chem assignment this morning?”

“I did.” Akaashi bites his lip. “I didn’t get quite all my prerequisites done first year so I’m still finishing some up.”

“Are you a third year?” Bokuto asks.

Akaashi shakes his head. “Second.”

“What made you want to study art?”

Bokuto is very good at asking a lot of questions all at once. “I like to draw, I guess.”

Bokuto pauses and takes a long sip of his drink. He offers Akaashi a grin. “You guess?”

Akaashi can feel his face reddening. “I mean, yes. I like to draw. It makes the world feel alive, if I can capture it on paper, if I can make other people see what I see. Everything feels more real when I’ve drawn it.”

Bokuto stares at him for what feels like a long time. The whipped cream is still smeared above his lip.

“That’s really cool, Akaashi-san,” he says finally. “That’s really, really cool.”

Akaashi takes a long sip of his drink. “Thank you, Bokuto-san.”

“I feel like I should tell you that absolutely no one calls me Bokuto-san,” he says with a laugh. “Bokuto is fine.”

“Oh,” Akaashi says. “Um. Just Akaashi is fine, then, as well.”

“Alright, Just Akaashi,” Bokuto answers.

Akaashi shakes his head with a grin. The whipped cream is becoming distracting. Mindlessly he reaches over and swipes it away from Bokuto’s mouth, wiping his hand on a napkin, and then immediately realizes what he’s done when Bokuto freezes. 

“Sorry. You had, um. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Bokuto offers. His voice is strained. 

“Really, I’m sorry—”

“Akaashi.” Bokuto hesitates for half a second, then reaches over and puts his hand on Akaashi’s. Akaashi’s face burns a bright crimson. “It’s really okay.”

They sit in silence for a while. Akaashi’s heart is pounding erratically in his ribcage, threatening to break free. Bokuto doesn’t move his hand.

“So you like owls,” Akaashi manages eventually, even though his tongue feels like lead in his mouth. 

“Yes!” Bokuto sips at his coffee with his unoccupied hand. “Yes, I love owls. They’re so cute, you know? And also scary. And fierce. And badass.” He grins. “But also fluffy.”

“What do you study, Bokuto?” Akaashi asks, before Bokuto can supply any more adjectives regarding owls.

“Sports science,” Bokuto says.

“I was half expecting your answer to be zoology.”

“I thought about it!” He slurps some more of his monstrosity. “I’ll be honest though, I’m hoping to go pro with volleyball.”

“Are you that good?” Akaashi asks, and then immediately regrets his words. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“You’re fine,” Bokuto says, waving his free hand. He smiles widely. “I am that good. You should come watch us play, sometime, you can see in person just how good I am.”

And then he winks, and Akaashi is certain that’s the end of his life.

“Yep,” he chokes out. “Yep, sounds good.”

Bokuto laughs and finally moves his hand away from Akaashi’s, and the skin where they’d been touching is tingling pleasantly. Akaashi takes a long sip of his coffee and realizes his mug is empty.

“I’ll get your next one,” Bokuto offers. “What are you having?”

“You don’t have to do that—”

“I’ll just ask Tsukki, then,” he answers, winking again and sauntering off to the counter.

Akaashi’s head falls to the table. _ So cute so cute so cute _, his brain says helpfully, and he groans into the formica.

“Hard to drink coffee like that,” Bokuto says brightly, returning to the table with a fresh mug. “And I don’t know how you can give me shit about seven shots when you have three in a much smaller mug.”

“I wasn’t giving you shit,” Akaashi mumbles, raising his head only a little, and Bokuto laughs as he sets the mug down in front of Akaashi.

“I’ll give you a pass this time,” Bokuto offers, “since I woke you up with weird owl-related emails. Next time though I have license to tease your coffee habits however I like.”

Akaashi’s breath catches, and he takes a sip of coffee to cover it. “Next time?” he asks.

Bokuto’s smile turns shy for the first time, and it’s even more endearing, and Akaashi is fucked. Absolutely fucked. “Do you want there to be a next time?”

He tries to stutter past the lump in his throat. “Yeah—yes. Yes, I’d like there to be a next time.”

Bokuto reaches for one of his hands again, placing it over Akaashi’s gently. “Okay.”

Akaashi lets a few quiet moments pass, letting the heat of Bokuto’s hand settle into his bones. “So what position do you play?”

“I’m a wing spiker, and proud ace,” Bokuto replies. He winks at Akaashi. “I’m kind of a big deal.”

“I see,” Akaashi answers. “I used to be a setter, when I played.”

“You played?” Bokuto’s entire face lights up again, and it’s blinding. 

“It was a long time ago.” Akaashi doesn’t want to make that look go away. “I haven’t played since my first year of high school.”

“Why’d you stop? I bet you were awesome!”

“Ah.” Akaashi sighs. “Club drama. It stopped being fun, you know? I just wanted to play, but the others were constantly fighting about really dumb stuff, and it cut into our ability to function as a team.”

Bokuto nods, and his face falls a little. “I was a top five spiker in the country in high school. But our setter graduated the year before I did, so my final year was rough. The first year who replaced him never quite got to the level of play we needed him at. Lost out in the second round of the spring tournament. But!” He smiles again. “Now I have a fantastic setter! And a tiny, brilliant decoy!”

“Are you talking about my crow child?” asks a voice from behind Bokuto.

“Oh ho?” Bokuto asks, turning around.

“Oh ho ho!” 

The owner of the voice is a tall, lanky boy with incredibly messy black hair. He leans against Bokuto’s chair and offers Akaashi a smile.

“Is this the one you emailed this morning?” he asks Bokuto, not taking his eyes off Akaashi.

“His name’s Akaashi,” Bokuto answers, attempting to subtly push his friend away by the hip. “Akaashi, this is Kuroo Tetsurou.”

Akaashi smirks. “The co-owner of your singular brain cell?”

“That’s the one.”

“So, Akaashi-san,” Kuroo drawls, bringing a hand to his chin. “What are your intentions with our young Bokuto here?”

“Alright, and that’s the end of this conversation,” Bokuto says. He stands and forcefully pushes Kuroo toward the counter. Kuroo looks like he’s doing his best to become deadweight in Bokuto’s arms.

“You know, if you’d wanted to avoid it, you shouldn’t have brought your date to the cafe where my boyfriend works.”

“Tsukki! I have a delivery for you! It’s very heavy and incredibly annoying!”

The blond barista who’d taken Akaashi’s order pokes his head out from the back. “Return to sender.”

“Rude!” Kuroo cries, following Tsukki into the back anyway. Bokuto returns to the table with his face just a little red.

“Sorry about that,” he says, smiling bashfully. “He’s kind of a lot.”

“He seems delightful,” Akaashi answers, and even he’s not sure if he’s being sarcastic or not.

It earns a laugh from Bokuto either way. “When he wants to be.” 

“How do you know him?”

“We played against each other back in high school,” Bokuto explains. “Actually his team is the one that beat ours at the spring tournament my last year. But we did training camps together all the time and we got to know each other. He’s my bro.” He slurps the last of his nightmare drink.

“For real, how can you drink that?” Akaashi exclaims, and Bokuto just laughs.

“Maybe when you’re older, you’ll understand.”

Akaashi huffs. “I’m only a year younger than you.”

“It’s a very important year. Anyway, I’ll give you a sip the next time we’re here and you’ll be addicted. The Bokuto special is world famous, you know.”

“Funny how I’ve never heard of it.”

“Clearly you’re not hanging out with the right crowd.”

“And you’re the right crowd?”

Bokuto grins. “Of course.”

Akaashi takes a deep breath. “So when can I hang out with the right crowd again?”

Bokuto bites his lip and looks down at his hands. “You free tomorrow afternoon?”

“I could be. What are you up to?”

“You could come by after practice. Kageyama and Hinata are always up for more, so I’m sure they wouldn’t mind hanging around. We could get Tsukki and Kuroo and play some three on three, if you want. I’ll make sure you’re on my team.”

Akaashi nods slowly. “That sounds alright.”

Bokuto leans in. “I’ll take you to dinner after, too.”

Akaashi’s heart beats out an unsteady rhythm in his chest. “Now it sounds perfect.”

Is it too early to kiss him? They met literally hours ago but Akaashi kind of can’t think of anything else. Bokuto’s lips are right there, and he’s biting on the bottom one, and Akaashi looks up and meets his eyes. 

“Bro-kuto!” Kuroo calls, and Bokuto’s head whips over to the counter. “Quit being gross!”

“Kuroo, I swear on all the things you love, I will end you!” Bokuto answers. 

Akaashi looks down at his phone. “Shit, I have to go,” he says apologetically, standing and looking down at Bokuto. “I’ve got class in twenty minutes.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Bokuto asks.

“Yeah,” Akaashi confirms. He smiles down at Bokuto. “Tomorrow. Bye, Bokuto.”

“Bye, Akaashi,” Bokuto replies, and Akaashi runs out the door.

When he gets to class, three minutes before the lecture starts, he’s got another email.

**bokutok@tokyou.jp: **apparently email is our fated method of communication bc i def forgot to give you my phone number!! i hope you had a good time this morning...i definitely did ^(OvO)^ can’t wait to see you tomorrow...and this time kuroo won’t be there to interrupt us! have a good class akaashi!!

Akaashi smiles like an idiot throughout his entire lecture and doesn’t bother wiping it away.

**Author's Note:**

> akaashi's outfit is inspired by [ this art ](https://keith-al.tumblr.com/post/159230519715/%E3%85%A4%E3%85%A4bokuroo-akaken-s-h-i-r-t)  
couldn't resist putting kurootsukki in there lol  
thanks as always to my amazing partners becca and sam for continuing to support my nonsense


End file.
